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Cycling Weekly

Sport

Caroline Dezendorf

'This race was a lot harder to win' - Karolina Migoń solos to victory at Unbound Gravel

Cecily Decker Lauren Stephens Unbound (Facility) Lauren De Crescenzo Sofia Gomez Villafane Kansas PAS

With a sweltering time of 10:03:54, Karolina Migoń (PAS Racing) has been crowned the 2025 Champion of Unbound 200.

In a field of nearly 100 of the best gravel athletes from all over the world, the race came down to tactics, teamwork and a little bit of luck.

The PAS rider made a decisive move early on, joined by PAS teammate Cecily Decker and American national gravel champion Lauren Stephens. The trio worked together well, but on their way toward the second feedzone, Stephens stopped taking turns and Decker, too, was struggling to match her teammate's pace. That's when Migoń decided to go it alone, despite the fact that 130 miles were still to go.

"I don't know if it was a good idea or not," said Migoń. "But I'm happy it worked out."

Five minutes behind Migoń, Cecily Decker claimed second place. Ten minutes behind her, Sofia Gomez Villafañe rounded out the podium.

How the racing unfolded

After torrential rain early in the week, riders lined up on Saturday morning, uncertain of the conditions awaiting them on Kansas’ notoriously rough and minimally maintained roads.

Unbound is renowned for its brutal conditions, high risk of mechanicals and punishing terrain. As the peloton set off from downtown Emporia, Kansas, for 201 miles / 325km through the Flint Hills, the nervous energy was palpable. With most athletes spending more than a week in Kansas to preview the entire course, they knew exactly where the first pinch point would come. Around 43 miles / 70 km in, they hit the race’s most decisive section: Divide Road.

“The race was kind of decided on Divide Road because it was super muddy and unfortunately, there were so many crashes,” said Rosa Klöser, the 2024 Unbound winner. “The ruts were bad and too many people were going down. I got caught up, and by the time we realised there was a group of three ahead, they already had five minutes.”

Migoń made her decisive move early, avoiding the crashes that took out pre-race favourites including Sarah Sturm and Klara Skovgaard Hansen, the latter of whom was taken to hospital with a suspected broken collarbone.

Unlike last year, when a lead peloton of over 40 riders strong remained together through Aid Station 1 in Alma, Kansas, this year’s group began to splinter earlier. Lauren Stephens (Aegis Cycling Foundation) led the charge into Aid 1, closely followed by Migoń and her teammate Cecily Decker (PAS).

“I was so happy to have my teammate with me,” Migoń said. “We were working with Lauren until the second aid station—then Lauren stopped taking turns.”

The race began to resemble a road event, full of tactical plays. However, unlike road racing—where teams can organise structured chases—the only effective team collaboration appeared to be between Migoń and Decker.

“We got into a big chase group and it was really negative racing,” said Lauren De Crescenzo (Factor), the 2021 Unbound winner. “But once we broke into a smaller group, we worked together much more cohesively—just like road racing.”

Klöser, now racing for Canyon-SRAM Zondocrypto, agreed. “I really tried everything to whittle down the group,” she said. “There were a lot of Specialized riders who didn’t really want to work.”

This raises a key question in modern gravel racing: as races become more tactical, with whom do privateers collaborate? Many riders share sponsors but are not part of the same teams and have little incentive to work together. However, Mignoń, who is from Poland, and Decker, who is from the United States, and have not had many chances to race together, decided to form an alliance that would ultimately benefit both with podium finishes.

With more than 80 kilometres remaining, and temperatures soaring to 89°F / 32 °C with high humidity, the heat began to take a toll on the athletes. The lead trio was whittled to one as Stephens dropped off first, followed by Decker. Mignoń made the decision to push on solo, testing her strength and her luck.

“I don't know if it was a good idea or not,” Migoń admitted. “But I'm happy it worked out.”

A back-to-back winner of the Traka 360, Migoń has already proven herself a dominant force on Europe’s gravel scene. But in her Unbound debut last year, mechanicals kept her from the front. This year, she rode strategically and defensively.

“In the beginning, there were many crashes, so I decided to stay at the front all the time,” she said. When a potential disaster did strike, her tyre sealant held, allowing her to power on and maintain her lead.

Asked whether winning Traka or Unbound meant more to her, Migoń said she prefers Traka’s technical terrain, but acknowledged that the level of competition at Unbound is unparalleled.

“This field had 90 very, very strong women,” Migoń said. “This race was a lot harder to win, and all the girls were really strong—but it turned out I was the strongest.”